The Urgency Today

Every day, I write 1200 words to keep myself active. Here's a passage from today's work:

I have read that plateaus are often reached in learning, that periods of achievement are often followed by periods of confusion, frustration, directionless questing. This brings to mind a centipede that I watched earlier this year: marching across the asphalt of the Gatineau Parkway, it seemed unstoppable, mechanical, locked into the programs of insentient purpose. Yet when the centipede arrived on the verge of the grass, it paused, and began to twist its head and upper segments back and forth, back and forth, uncertain of what to do next. In motion, it seemed a mechanism; in doubt, it seemed alive.

 I must remind myself that human beings are often most alive, most aware, when routine breaks down and the passage from day to day becomes a challenge. Here I am on the verge of something new, and if I find myself casting about in confusion, I can at least take heart in being alive with an urgency today that I might not have noticed as keenly yesterday.